Come on, surely we’re not just letting Dr Disrespect come back to streaming

Is streaming really a safe space if the Two-Time is welcomed back?

Dr Disrespect in his full glasses, wig, headset, and red vest outfit, sits in a purple-shaded control room.
Image via Dr Disrespect

Over the last few weeks, Dr Disrespect has slowly been building back to a streaming comeback, less than two months after he admitted to inappropriately messaging a minor on Twitch in 2017. First, it was images, then teaser posts, and, finally, a rapid-fire assault on social media aimed at everyone who spoke out against him.

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The disgraced streamer, who last appeared on YouTube in late June, shared a two-minute video on X (formerly Twitter) on Sep. 6 that boiled down to one thing: He’s now returning.

Dr Disrespect, who is wearing red visor glasses, a black wig, and a black and red tactical turtleneck, talks to the camera.
The disgraced YouTuber has shown little remorse for his 2017 actions. Screenshot by Dot Esports | Remixed by Isaac McIntyre

My question is⁠—why? I understand the “why” behind Guy Beahm (the man behind the Dr Disrespect Prototype Scopes) wanting to make his return. Streaming and video content creation has been his career since as far back as 2010—when the Doc character was birthed behind several Call of Duty commentary videos. He would be leaving millions on the table if he walked away from his Champions Club fan community.

My question to the wider gaming world and the streaming fandoms littered across Twitch, YouTube, and Kick: Why are more people not opposing this comeback?

Okay, so Dr Disrespect hasn’t been publicly charged with anything. While slimy and disgusting by any measure of the imagination, his messaging of a younger streaming fan over Twitch Whispers (a now-defunct messaging application on the Amazon-owned site) hasn’t actually resulted in any legal action that we’re aware of today.

Allegedly, he did, however, know he was talking to a minor, according to a report from Rolling Stone shared when everything first broke in early July. The report claims he sent some of these messages⁠—which an ex-Twitch staffer described as “egregious” and “severe”⁠—after learning the girl was underage. The same report also claims he had “no problem” with her age. (Beahm described the 2017 Twitch messages as “leaning too much in the direction of being inappropriate” in a now-deleted apology.)

The bottom line is that Dr Disrespect “continued to send sexually graphic messages to a minor he knew to be underage,” according to the Rolling Stone.

Dr Disrespect talks and gestures of one of his YouTube streams
The 42-year-old has been blocked on Twitch since the turn of the decade. Screenshot by Dot Esports

That‘s not the kind of streamer we want in this entertainment space. A May 2020 study from Stacy Jo Dixon at Statista.com suggested three-quarters of Twitch’s active app users in the U.S. were in their teens and twenties. The same viewership study had streaming users under 19 years old at closer to 37.8 percent. Then, over on Dr Disrespect’s most recent video site of choice YouTube (where he’s now demonetized), 9.29 percent of all video watchers are 18 or younger. Even if they never directly come in contact with the 42-year-old entertainer while watching, it’s concerning that any younger viewers could find themselves exposed to a streamer who has admitted to sending messages to a girl that were “sometimes bordering on inappropriate.”

From some of his early messaging pre-September comeback too, it looks like the Doc is going to burst back into the scene leaning far further into an alt-right ideology; he’s already lambasted other streamers last week, poked fun at X users with pronouns in their bios in early August, and then last month called someone who implied he was a pedophile a “little brainwashed woke boy.”

I don’t know about you, but so far that’s all been fairly repulsive and it feels like it’s just the beginning of whatever rerun campaign the Two-Time’s cooked up while he was busy “vacationing”—his words, no one else’s⁠—after the controversy exploded publicly in June.

Dr Disrespect appears dressed in a red vest and camo jumper at an esports event
The disgraced entertainer is leaning into his abrasive character more now than ever before. Photo via Getty Images

Everyone knows the Doc’s first big stream back (wherever it happens) will draw mega numbers. Some will watch out of morbid curiosity, while others will happily pretend nothing happened. Disappointingly, some might even actively support him, which would shake my faith in streaming ever being a safe space.

No matter how big Dr Disrespect’s return is this week, though, let’s just hope everyone comes to their senses sooner rather than later and turns their back on this streamer.

Author
Image of Isaac McIntyre
Isaac McIntyre
Isaac McIntyre is the Aussie Editor at Dot Esports. He previously worked in sports journalism at Fairfax Media in Mudgee and Newcastle for six years before falling in love with esports—an ever-evolving world he's been covering since 2018. Since joining Dot, he's twice been nominated for Best Gaming Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism Awards and continues to sink unholy hours into losing games as a barely-Platinum AD carry. When the League servers go down he'll sneak in a few quick hands of the One Piece card game. Got a tip for us? Email: isaac@dotesports.com.